171) The Notorious Byrd Brothers

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While recording their fifth album, Byrds guitarist David Crosby was fired and drummer Michael Clarke quit. According to legend, for the album-cover photo, the band erased Crosby's face -- and replaced him with a horse. But despite the internal drama, the Byrds made Notorious a warm, gentle comedown for Sixties children facing up to the morning after the Summer of Love. The sound is melancholic but friendly, blending spacey studio effects and Moog synthesizers with guitars, strings and horns to build the elegiac mood of "Draft Morning" and "Goin' Back" as well as the optimistic surge of "Dolphin's Smile" and "Natural Harmony."

Total album sales: Under 500,000

Peak chart position: 47

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